Knick Names: Jalen Brunson Bestows a New Title to Julius Randle
Julius Randle received a verbal medal from a teammate after capping off the New York Knicks' latest victory in style on Friday night in South Beach.
Randle's improbable game-winning triple, the end of a 43-point effort, was enough to secure a 122-120 victory over the Miami Heat and move the Knicks' active winning streak to eight. His late-game heroics allowed him to sandwich the game with dominant efforts, having previously scored 20 points in the opening frame as New York (38-27) built an early lead that summitted at 17 before Miami crawled back into it.
The Knicks' official Twitter account asked fans to get creative in their revelry in the aftermath, encouraging replies with a tweet that read "Julius Randle is __________." Those running the account didn't have to look far for the best and most popular reply, which came from teammate Jalen Brunson, who labeled Randle "THE SERGEANT" in a quote tweet, confirming the new moniker with a trio of saluting smiley faces.
Many immediately came to support Randle's new title, including another teammate, RJ Barrett.
Randle and Brunson were each vital parts of Friday's win, one that allowed the Knicks to establish a 4.5-game lead over Miami (33-31) to avoid the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament. In addition to Randle's timely triple, Brunson survived an injury scare in the third quarter, returning to score eight points over the final dozen to stave off the Heat's comeback.
Brunson perhaps spoke for countless Knicks fans in the immediate postgame festivities, silently hugging Randle as the latter was interviewed by MSG Network's Mike Breen and Walt "Clyde" Frazier.
"The Sergeant" will be back on duty on Sunday night as the Knicks close out their annual quartet against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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